Whatever happened to Claudia Brown?
by Rod Zolin
Summary: What happened to Claudia?  Nothing.  She was waiting when Nick Cutter came through the anomaly.  But Nick didn't know Claudia, and he claimed that he worked at the ARC, which no one else had heard of.


Title: Whatever happened to Claudia Brown?

Rating: K

Word count: approximately 3028

Synopsis: What happened to Claudia? Nothing. She was there when Nick Cutter returned through the anomaly. But Nick didn't know Claudia, and he claimed that he worked at the ARC, which no one else had heard of.

Character abbreviations:

AM: Abby Maitland

CB: Claudia Brown

CT: Conner Temple

DZ: David Zircori (new character)

JL: James Lester

NC: Nick Cutter

SH: Stephen Hart

(Scene: Near an open anomaly.

Characters: Foreground: Claudia Brown, James Lester, Stephen Hart, Abby Maitland, and

Conner Temple. In the background: three soldiers.

Nick Cutter comes through the anomaly.

Claudia Brown runs up to Cutter and kisses him. )

NC: Do I know you?

CB: Nick, stop kidding. You're scaring me.

NC: Are you new at the ARC?

JL: What's the ARC?

(Cutter stares incredulously at Lester.)

NC: It's where we work.

JL: We work at the Home Office. Where are Captain Ryan and his men?

NC: They and my wife Helen were killed by a future predator. Fortunately, the predator attacked

a gorgonopsid before going after me. Bad choice on the predator's part. The gorgonopsid killed

the predator.

Something's not right here. Doesn't anyone know what the Anomaly Research Center is?

(All others, nodding): No.

SH: Never heard of it.

NC, to Claudia: Miss, did I know you before I went through the anomaly?

CB: Yes, we've worked together for months.

NC: And from the way you kissed me, we are at least close friends?

CB: Oh yes!

NC, addressing all others: So the Anomaly Research Center doesn't mean anything to you?

(All others, nodding): No

NC: Something's not right here.

(The anomaly closes.)

NC: James, Stephen, Connor, Abby, you all know me, yes?

JL,SH,AM,CT: Yes.

NC: James, I assume that I am an indispensable pain in the ass?

JL: Well put.

NC: Is Oliver Leek your right-hand man?

JL: Who?

NC: Oliver Leek.

JL: Never heard of him. Claudia is my right-hand man, so to speak.

NC: Let's go back to the office. We need to discuss this.

(At the Home Office, around a conference table.)

NC: When I went through the anomaly, I worked for the Anomaly Research Center, and I

didn't know a Claudia Brown. If Claudia weren't there to greet me on my return, I would have

suspected that something I did changed history. But that wouldn't explain Claudia. My first

thought is that I am in an alternate, almost parallel, time line. And your Nick Cutter may have

taken my place in my time line.

CT: How could that have happened?

NC: I have no idea how that happened, ... and I have no idea what to do about it. There is no

Claudia Brown where I came from, at least, not one working for us. If your Nick Cutter is there,

he probably assumed that history changed and Claudia Brown never existed. So, if things are

going to be put right, we'll have to do it.

CT: How can we do that?

NC: I don't know. But I have an acquaintance at the University, at least I used to, a physicist

who gave a talk about parallel realities. Perhaps he can help.

SH: Professor Zircori?

NC: Aye. I skipped his talk - I thought it was too far fetched. He is an American, a visiting

professor for a year, and I helped him get settled in. I'll talk to him.

JL: Be careful what you tell him. Anomalies are classified.

NC: Aye. Show me the records of we've done for the past few months.

(Cutter reviews many pages of documents.)

NC: Eight of the last nine anomalies are almost exactly as I remember them. The ninth is

different, very different. We had an anomaly at a shopping center with several raptors. Your

previous anomaly involved an office building with giant worms.

James, I have a good reason for you keeping me on, even though I am from a different time

line. I know how to locate anomalies as soon as they appear.

JL: My Cutter wouldn't withhold that information even if I sacked him.

NC: And I won't, either. The anomalies emit strong radio interference at a frequency of 97.3

megahertz.

JL: Welcome to our team.

NC: Conner is partly responsible for figuring this out. Well, Conner from my time line. We heard

radio interference in the shopping center with the raptors. That anomaly hasn't happened here … yet.

CT: With that information, I can set up a detector that will show us exactly where an anomaly has

occurred.

JL: Well, get to it!

NC: Tomorrow morning I want to visit a physicist who may know something about parallel time

lines.

JL: If he must be told about anomalies, I want him to sign a non-disclosure document, here in

my presence, before you even mention the word "anomaly".

NC: Aye.

JL: Anomaly Research Center - - it has a nice sound to it. Tell me about yours. I might want one.

(At Central Metropolitan University: Cutter knocks at a door. Someone responds "Enter".)

NC: Aloha, Kawika. Pehea ka holo ana? [Hello, David. How is it going?]

DZ: Maikai`i. [Good.]

Aloha, Nick. I see you are learning Hawaiian.

NC: Only what you taught me the last time we met.

DZ: I'm sorry Nick – I don't remember teaching you any Hawaiian.

NC: That may give some credibility to what I have to tell you.

Something very strange happened to me yesterday. I went on an unusual trip, and when

I returned I was met by some of my co-workers. One woman I have never seen before came up to

me and kissed me.

DZ, smiling: I should be so lucky!

NC: When I told her I didn't know her, she said that we had been working together for months, and

that we were close friends. When I asked her if she worked at the ARC, my work location, she and

the rest of my co-workers denied any knowledge of the term ARC. They insisted that we worked at

the Home Office.

DZ: That IS very strange.

NC: I went to the office and reviewed accounts of what we had done over the past few months.

Most of the accounts are similar to what I remember, but one is totally different. It looks as if I

have crossed over from an alternate time line. And the last time we met, you DID teach me some

Hawaiian.

DZ: This isn't a joke, is it?

NC: No, I'm deadly serious.

DZ: Tell me about the unusual trip that you took.

NC: I can't, at this time. The trip is classified, and you'll have to sign a non-disclosure agreement

before I can tell you about it.

DZ: How soon can I do that?

NC: Come with me and we can get that done today.

(At James Lester's office:)

JL: Professor Zircori, the information we are about to give you is classified for reasons of public

safety. It might cause widespread panic if the public knew what we are dealing with. Professor

Cutter will explain.

NC: About a year ago, we discovered that portals in time, or anomalies as we call them, have

been happening, joining our time to prehistoric times. And creatures from those time periods have

passed through these anomalies. We try to contain these creatures. We send them back to their

own times if possible, but sometimes we have to destroy them.

DZ: Amazing!

NC: Yesterday, a military team, my wife Helen, and I went through an anomaly back to the

Permian era. We were followed by a future predator that had found its way into our time. The

predator killed the military team and Helen.

DZ: I thought Helen died years ago.

NC: Helen disappeared eight years ago and was presumed dead. She returned recently through

an anomaly. Apparently, she's been traveling back and forth through anomalies.

The future predator took on a nasty creature, a gorgonopsid, before it got to me, and the

gorgonopsid killed it. I was gone for less than an hour, but when I returned through the anomaly

some things were different: I didn't know Claudia Brown, I worked at the Anomaly Research

Center, but my co-workers never heard of it. But I knew my other co-workers' names and they

knew me, or at least, another Nick Cutter.

Later I reviewed accounts of the anomaly incidents that we dealt with over the past year. All but

one were pretty much as I remembered them. But the most recent incident was very different.

DZ: How so?

NC: I encountered raptors in a shopping center, but here, Nick Cutter and the rest of this team dealt

with giant prehistoric worms in an office building. So you see why I think I am in the wrong time

line.

DZ: It certainly sounds like it.

Several of my colleagues have proposed methods of measuring a "quantum signature" for a reality. We have several

prototype detectors, but we don't know which ones will work. I can provide you with 5 or 6 of these detectors, and you

can try them on anomalies.

NC: I'll have Connor connect them to a recording device.

DZ: If you find a detector that gives you a quantum signature different from this time line, that

anomaly might lead to an alternate time line. From what you have told me, time line changes are

not common, so it might take a number of anomalies before you find one that connects to an

alternate time line.

(Several weeks later at a new anomaly. Claudia, Abby, Connor, Stephen, and Nick are looking at the anomaly. Connor is wearing a jacket holding three tubular devices on each side, connected to a small hand-held device that Connor is looking at.)

CT: The quantum signature devices all read the same as for our time line.

(Connor sends a robotic device through the anomaly.)

CT: The air is breathable, There is no sign of life. I see something strange in the distance.

It looks like a lot of anomalies!

NC: I'll go through and take a look.

(Nick goes through the anomaly, looks at a field of several hundred anomalies, and returns.)

NC: There are a lot of anomalies, perhaps hundreds! Connor, go through and get readings

from as many as possible. I'll call you when this anomaly gives any sign of closing.

AM: I'll go through with Connor and watch for this anomaly to weaken.

NC: OK, go.

(About two hours later Abby and Connor come back through the anomaly.)

CT: I've got readings from about a hundred anomalies, and two or three of them show a different

quantum signature from our time line. When we get back to the office, I'll look at the recorder to be

certain.

(Back at the office:)

CT: Four of the six detectors show a quantum signature different from ours for three of 112 anomalies.

NC: OK, so about one anomaly in thirty five may connect to an alternate time line. When we find a

local anomaly that shows the other quantum signature, I'll go through and see if I return to my time

line.

CB: I'm going with you. I want to find MY Nick Cutter.

NC: We might have to wait for a year or two for the right kind of anomaly.

CB: Then I'll wait. What choice do I have?

(Several months later, at an anomaly. James Lester, Nick, Claudia, Stephen, Connor, Abby, and some soldiers are present.)

CT: This looks like the one we have been waiting for. This one has a different quantum signature.

NC: Claudia, when we return, we should be in a parallel time line where your Nick Cutter went.

JL: Take one of the soldiers with you. When he returns, he can let us know if you found your

home.

NC: Aye. Claudia, are you ready?

CB: Yes! Let's go!

AM: Please be careful!

(Nick, Claudia, and a soldier go through the anomaly to a prehistoric time, then turn around and go back through the anomaly. Connor and Abby are at the other side of the anomaly, but not James Lester, Stephen, nor the soldiers.)

CT: Nick! You're dead!

NC: What d'ya mean, I'm dead?

AM: Where did you and Jenny come from?

NC: Jenny? This is Claudia Brown. You say I am dead?

CT: Helen shot and killed you a few months ago.

NC: Do you work at the ARC or at the Home Office?

CT and AM, together: The ARC.

NC: With James Lester and Oliver Leek?

CT: James, yes, but Oliver died trying to kill you.

NC: OK, I'm home, but why am I so unpopular?

AM: Helen and Oliver were collecting predators. They were planning to blackmail the city. Oliver

tried to have future predators kill you, but you got out of the room before Oliver could, and the

predators killed him. Stephen also died during that incident. He gave his life to keep the

predators confined.

NC: I'm really sorry to hear that. He was a good man.

CT: She looks so like Jenny Lewis! She must be the Claudia that Cutter was expecting when he

returned from the Permian era.

NC: There is a parallel time line. I think that another Nick Cutter and I switched places

several months ago.

You say Helen killed me, well, the other Cutter? I knew she was obsessed, but I didn't think she was dangerous.

CT and AM: Yes, she was.

NC, speaking to Claudia: I'm sorry Claudia. I don't think it would ha' changed anything if we'd

gotten back here sooner. What's your preference - - to return to your time line or to stay here?

CB: I would prefer to be with you.

NC: Connor, is the team functioning OK without me?

CT: Yes, sort of. Danny Quinn, a former constable, leads the team, and he is doing a good job.

He lost his brother to an anomaly many years ago. When he found out what we do, he kept

getting involved, even though Jenny threatened to have him arrested. James was being pressured

to have a military man lead the team, so he selected Danny instead.

NC: I'm going to go back to Claudia's time line. I don't think she will be comfortable here with her

double, Jenny, on the team.

Connor, I'm going to leave a quantum signature device with you. About one anomaly in 35 leads to

an alternate time line. There appear to be only two time lines. If you find yourself in the other time

line, go back and forth through the anomaly to get back to your own time line.

Helen died in the other time line, so I shouldn't have to worry about her there. Do you have any

other things you should warn me about?

CT: I can't think of any.

AM: Warn Connor to watch out for a brunette named Caroline. She turned out to be a spy for

Oliver and played up to Connor to get information. She nearly got us all killed.

NC: Don't tell the others about me, if you don't have to. You know how to find me.

AM, CT: We'll miss you.

AM: It's nice to know that you are alive somewhere. You are welcome to come and visit.

CT: Or stay!

NC, smiling: Now that might give James something new to worry about!

(Nick, Claudia, and the soldier go through the anomaly and return to Claudia's time line.)

[The end. No additional episodes planned.]


End file.
